Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Cold, bleak and deadly: Antarctica is little changed since the days of Scott and Shackleton

Photo: Global Book Publishing Photo Library

From The Telegraph by Paul Rose (Base Commander of Rothera Research Station, Antarctica, for the British Antarctic Survey for 10 years)

In Antarctica, making the slightest
mistake can put your life at risk.
It is an unforgiving place.
Colder
than cold, bleak, a vast wasteland of iciness, its deadliness stretches
for thousands of miles.

That’s why Henry Worsley’s attempt to follow in Shackleton’s footsteps and travel across the Antarctic alone,
pulling his own supplies, was so impressive.
He was a formidable
explorer: well-organised, determined and incredibly powerful – not one
of those people who just goes off with a dream and not much of a plan.
His was a good expedition, and I followed him all the way.
It looked as
if he was cruising it and sometimes he was even going like the clappers.

Antarctica from space (NASA)

But you’ve got to remember those conditions.
Even walking outside at
minus 40 degrees when you’re well-rested is a very, very cold,
potentially deadly experience.
For Henry to face those conditions alone
every day would have been incredibly tough.

Pulling a sledge full of supplies is brutal Photo: PAThe
former Army officer turned explorer died just 30 miles short of his
attempt to become the first person to cross the Antarctic alone

The final expedition:

A solo 943 mile
coast-to-coast trek across the Antarctic, pulling a sledge with
everything he needed. He collapsed 71 days into the anticipated 80 day journey, and later died of organ failure

Bear in mind that he had to carry everything he needed.
He couldn’t
take anything that would add unnecessary weight – such as a spare pair
of gloves.
And everything you do in those bitter conditions takes
effort.
Say you’re thirsty and want to get some water out of your bag.
You’ve got to get the bag off the sledge and unzip it.
But you’re
wearing thick mittens for travelling – warmer than gloves, but offering
less dexterity – and you’ve got to take the outer mitten off to reach
the zip.
Where do you put that outer mitten to make sure it doesn’t blow
away?
Even the simplest task can be fraught with danger, and the only
way to stay alive is with a severe amount of discipline.

His lifelong hero was Ernest Shackleton and it was his journey across the Antarctic that Henry Worlsley was trying to recreate - with the huge, added challenge that Worsley was entirely alone.

Like Shackleton, his bravery and his willingness to endure endless, uncharted terrain led him into a desperate race for survival that ended in his death

The British explorer died of organ failure - tragically - when the end of the mission was almost in sight - just 30 miles remained of his 1,000 mile journey.

It’s bloody hard at the end of a long day spent pulling that sledge.
All you want to do is get the tent up, get in and have a warm drink.
But the tent doesn’t go up by magic.
First you’ve got to secure the
sledge, skis and poles so they don’t blow away.
You also have to
bear in mind that the moment you stop you are instantly cold, so you
have to put on a thicker, insulating down layer.
Then you find the tent
and secure it – but it’s still just a shelter and minus 40 inside.
So
you put the sleeping bag in, find the stove and melt some snow.
From
stopping to getting a cup of instant soup takes an hour and a half.
Mornings are the worst, as you lie there, very hungry, tired and cold
and have to force yourself to get up and start the routine over again:
melt snow, make food, load sledge.
You love the sledge – because all
that equipment is keeping you alive – but you are also beginning to hate
the thing, the feeling of it rubbing on your hips as you struggle to
put one foot in front of the other.

For all its harshness, though, Antarctica has something we love.Frank Wild, Shackleton’s right-hand man said that it calls you back with
little white voices, and he was spot on.
Once you’ve worked there, it’s
hard to resist its siren call.
Some people may say that Henry’s
journey was foolhardy.
But it wasn’t.
For me it is only natural that we
should want to explore new ground, no matter the dangers.
It is good
for us to discover the “ground truth” of the planet for ourselves.
Henry’s was a tremendous journey and he very nearly made it.
For that, I salute him.